It has been almost two years since covid first knocked on our doors. And as we all know, the majority of this time has been spent locked in our houses and wearing a mask (at least) when we go out.
While everyone is doing this today, all of this wasn’t so common pre-pandemic. This is how things have changed.
Covid has had a great effect on everything, from the economy to socio-emotional health. While some of the effects are short-lived, others will impact generations to come. Despite the fact that multiple vaccines have arrived and also been provided to the general public, things will never be, like they used to be.
In this blog, we will be exploring “The New Normal” following a slow but not sure decrease in this covid induced pandemic. So, let’s get right into it:
Stores – NO, Amazon – YES
While online shopping was still booming before the pandemic hit us, it was a different story during the lockdown. The Credit primary guidelines not letting people roam outside freely, as well as the contagious nature of the virus.
Regardless, online stores like Amazon quite simply skyrocketed in a pandemic. People who had never before used E-commerce were forced to use it and were spell-bound by the convenience it brought.
Truth be told, everyone loves it, when the item is delivered to your door.
Plus, many new e-commerce rose too. By the start of 2021, you could order food online, vegetables, groceries, or just about anything. And it is safe to say, people got a hang of it. Despite the fact that things are going to normal, people are still sticking to the more convenient option is E-commerce.
This is something that is here to stay. We all knew this was going to happen someday or the other, Covid just acted as a catalyst.
Cash….Less
Again, the government, as well as big tech companies, were pushing towards the cashless system, and covid helped them quite a bit to say the least.
Since people feared covid, they reframed from making contact, even indirectly. This is the reason why bills were quite happily and quickly replaced by cashless methods like Apple pay, Google Pay, and so on.
Plus, the Boast in E-commerce went hand in hand with this cashless wave, encouraging it even further. And once people are used to something, they are used to it.
So, we can expect this New Normal of Cashless Norm to become permanent.
Telehealth
It takes no genius to know that Health was, and is the main concern during the pandemic. This is mainly to do with the fact that symptoms of Covid overlapped with the common cold, and people couldn’t help but panic over every sneeze.
Adding to the problem, people were locked inside their homes, and doctors neither had the time nor could they take risk of watching each patient. So, in this hour of need, technology played a big role, Telehealth rose like steam from boiling water.
Again, the “EASE” factor came into play. If you haven’t already realized people choose ease over anything, in most cases.
Moving on, Telehealth proved to be quite effective and time-saving at the same time. Plus, it is also a lot safer for the doctors as well as patients too. So, this is another one of those things, that people really loved, and thus it has become a permanent part of our lives.
Office – A Thing of Past
This one is quite fun. So, cutting short all the covid, lockdown part, we know that a lot of people had to work from home during the pandemic due to obvious reasons.
While this proved to be a little challenging for older members of the workforce, they slowly got quite used to it. And as it turned out, everyone loved it. With few ups and down, productivity was on the same level as being in office, if not more.
Plus, this also allowed the employers and employees to save a lot of expenses on both sides.
Following the eventual end of the pandemic, we expect most people to go back to their offices. However, not everyone is going back, for a large portion workforce prefers to work from the comfort of their homes. And their employer is complying.
Now, this is something that is slowly becoming a trend, and it’s not long before remote-working becomes the main mode of work. So, yeah, work from home is the new normal for people if their professional allows it.
You can’t expect construction workers to work from home, can you now?
The Impact
Till now, we have talked about what has changed to what, but we haven’t looked at how this pandemic affected us, the people.
Well, as things stand, the impact is quite large, and it is going to last.
Karestan Koenen, a psychiatric epidemiology professor at Harvard said that the effect of pandemics is quite similar to that of war or drought. And it is true, as we saw covid affecting each and every aspect of our life, be it the death of a close one, or loss of job.
The people who were still in their teen years are the ones to be affected most. They might not remember a time when masks were not common and look at health as a collective thing rather than something personal.
Growing up through a time of death and despair sure takes a toll on people. Thus, it is expected that the next generation will have a higher level of hopelessness, in general. As they were locked inside their houses during the times they should be out in the world learning new things.
In addition to social impact, this situation also gave rise to depression and anxiety in older generations. Koenen further added, “There are things in our lives that are good to do for our development and those things may provoke anxiety at first,”. She asked Koenen said. “What happens if you’re able to avoid normal developmental challenges? What happens when you don’t get those opportunities?”
Bottom line – A New Beginning
Covid came unannounced and hugely impact our lives. Without a doubt, something has been changed forever, and the next generation won’t be the same as the previous, in the most absurd of sense.
Call it foolish or Hopeful, we, humans, tend to look at the bright side of everything. And as much as a curse covid is, we are ready for a new beginning. Something will be done differently, we lost some people, but this is how things are now.
All of us, will adapt or have already adapted to this new way, the new normal. We are ready to flourish again.
